A new missing Child Alert System is being proposed by the BC Assembly of First Nations after two Indigenous six-year-olds went missing over the last few days.
The group stated both Oaklynn Schweder and Johnson Redhead were on the autism spectrum and non-verbal did not have the Amber Alert system activated in their cases.
Schwedder who went missing south of Burns Lake on Thursday was successfully located by police and Search and Rescue Crews on Sunday in a forested area between her home and the band office.
Sadly, Redhead was found deceased in a marshy area in northeastern Manitoba in the Shamattawa First Nation.
Police say he was last seen Wednesday morning heading to school but didn’t make it to class following a breakfast program.
“The Amber Alert system in Canada was established to help locate abducted children quickly by broadcasting urgent messages to the public. First Nations communities require a similar system to effectively serve their needs,” stated Regional Chief Terry Teegee.
“The circumstances of First Nations children going missing often differ from those relevant in urban settings, requiring a responsive framework that can address these variances. A dedicated alert system would allow for more flexible criteria that can accommodate diverse situations in which First Nations children may become lost or go missing.”
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